Taught By:
Estrella Torrez
Associate Professor
Residential College in the Arts and Humanities
Michigan State University
Read profile here.
Course Description:
“The heart of justice is truth telling, seeing ourselves and the world the way it is rather than the way we want it to be. More than ever before we, as a society, need to renew a commitment to truth telling.” (bell hooks) In this course, students will work with youth and community leaders from the Greater Lansing Area’s Latine and Indigenous communities to learn stories of strength, resistance and love. Meeting weekly with youth through afterschool programs, we will learn the basic principles of community-based action research through a culturally responsive approach with a focus on ethnic studies and community engagement. Together we will engage in intergenerational conversations with the Lansing School District community to deepen our understanding of how the local community has sustained (and continues to advocate for) a strong sense of connectedness. Working together, we will co-create materials (visual, written, and audio) to be distributed in the community.
